The Peace Project
by Comus
Summary: An Evangelion AU fic. When a mysterious young man arrives on the scene, how will the world be changed? And more importantly, just which side is he on?
1. Disclaimer

GENERAL DISCAIMER AND EXPLAINATION:  
  
I don't own Evangelion. I sure wish I did. I bet I could make tons and tons of money. However, I don't have tons and tons of money, for two reasons. One, I'm not Bill Gates. Two, I DON'T OWN NEON GENESIS EVANGELION! Again, I wish I did.  
  
However, I do own a number of other things in this story. Nick Rivers, for one. Unit Theta, for another. In later installments, you'll see other things you don't recognize. Of these, assume I own them unless you happen to see someone else who claims to own them. If you manage to find someone with written proof that they own anything I thought was original with this story. Well, you found them before I did. Have fun reading it. I decided to throw this 'General Disclaimer' here instead of putting one on top of every chapter.  
  
Now, the explanation.  
  
This story takes place during the Anime "Neon Genesis Evangelion". The exact point is left blurry, and no dates are given. It is an AU fanfiction. In other words, events happen here that take the place of events in the official anime.  
  
Read it. Review It. Rinse. Repeat. 


	2. Just another day in Tokyo3

The P.E.A.C.E. Project.  
  
It would have been a nice day, if not for the rain. The sudden downpour had come out of nowhere, and the meteorologists hadn't predicted it. Shinji pulled his raincoat on tighter, and wished he had brought a sweater.  
"Hey Shinji, you gonna cross or not?" Asuka asked, yelling from the other side of the street. Shinji shrugged and crossed the street. A passing car hit a pothole swollen with rain in the half flooded street, throwing up a splash that soaked Shinji's pants.  
"Not again..." Shinji sighed, looking down at his wet clothing.  
"Hurry up third child! We're going to be late for school!" yelled Asuka, as she grabbed Shinji by the arm and pulled him down the road.  
  
Shinji plopped down in his seat, the teacher too senile to notice him come in over a half hour late. Rei glanced up briefly, and then resumed staring out the window. Yet another boring day of school.  
Suddenly there came a rapping, as of someone gently tapping, tapping on the classroom door. When the teacher failed to get the door, whomever it was let himself in.  
The class fell silent.  
An American had walked in, with uncombed brown hair, a tan vest covered in pockets, and a UN surplus peacekeeping uniform. He nodded to the class, raised his hand in the form of a greeting, and then walked over to the teacher. The American waved his hand in front of the teacher's eyes, trying to get his attention. When that failed, the American wrote his name on the classroom's blackboard-  
Nicholas Rivers.  
Nick waltzed over to a desk, sat down, and pulled out a pocketknife. Shinji moved up a desk to get a better look at the new student. Nick, whoever he was, seemed to be trying desperately to get into trouble. He had used the pocketknife to unscrew the top of the desk, revealing the innards of the integrated computer.  
"Hey, what do you think you're doing?" Shinji demanded, already angry with Nick. The American looked him in the eyes, and gave him a smile that chilled Shinji to the bones. Nick went back to what he had been doing, and took a small box out of one of his vest's many pockets. He hooked it up to the computer, and then replaced the cover onto the desk. The class rep stood up, and watched over Nick's shoulder.  
He brought up the computer's web browser, and somehow managed to sign on. The desks didn't have a cable connection. Shinji guessed this meant the American had plugged a cellular modem into the computer. Nick carefully typed in an address, and a blurry picture appeared on the screen. At first, it was impossible to make out. When the picture resolved, Shinji saw something that both shocked and amazed him. Rivers had somehow managed to break into the NERV database.  
  
The cafeteria was as busy as it ever was, which meant it was almost empty. Kensuke sat down beside Shinji and Asuka, the three of them watching the new student.  
"What do you think? He seems pretty suspicious." Kensuke said.  
"I'm not sure. During class he managed to hack into the NERV computers, and then-"  
"WHAT?" Asuka screamed, "That's impossible! No one could do that without the proper security codes!"  
"Well, that's what I thought..." Shinji said.  
"Then I'll just go ask him." Asuka started to get up, but Toji, who had been sitting next to her, stopped her.  
"Don't even bother. I tried talking to him and he acted like I wasn't even there..." Toji warned.  
"You don't have my charm, so sit down and shut up." Asuka strolled over to Nick's table, and sat down in the seat next to him. "Hello! I'm Asuka, how's it going?" Nick looked at her, emotionless. He then reached down into his vest, and produced a small paper envelope. Nick handed the envelope to her, and then calmly walked away. Asuka sat back down next to Shinji. She looked at the plain white envelope a moment more, and then opened it. Inside was a color photo of Asuka in her heat-resistant entry plug suit.  
Asuka's screams were heard for miles around.  
  
Toji's fist slammed into Nick's jaw with a resounding crack. Remembering how Shinji had been shoved back several feet by that punch, Toji was rather surprised when all Nick did was flinch a bit, spit some blood onto the ground, and smile. Nick pointed to the tip of his chin, and waited. Toji punched him again. Nick grunted this time, and almost had to take a step back from the momentum on the blow, but stopped himself. Instead, he used the turning motion to deliver a right hook to Toji's gut. Shinji's friend grunted, then crumpled to the ground, feeling like a sledgehammer had been driven into his stomach.  
"Not too shabby. You actually managed to hurt me." Nick said, in a voice that sounded far too soft and gentle for what he had just done, the person he seemed to be.  
"Toji, are you all right?" asked Kensuke, kneeling down by his best friend.  
"I will be..." He said, trying to gain his feet. He couldn't stand, vertigo gripping him and pulling him down. "But I'll feel a lot better when Asuka kicks his sorry ass in."  
  
"Asuka, I'm home!" Shinji called, as he walked in the door to his apartment. Shinji walked into the living room, where Asuka was flipping through channels angrily.  
"Hello third child." She said, a hard edge to her voice.  
"I heard about what happened-"  
"Drop it. You're expected back at NERV HQ."  
"What?"  
"Someone should be along to pick you up any moment now." The doorbell rang, as if on cue. Shinji opened the door. Nick was there; the last person either Shinji or Asuka had expected to see. Shinji backed up a step. Nick looked at him.  
"Let's go. I'm to bring you to the geofront."  
"WHAT?! No, there must be some mistake you can't-" Nick handed Shinji a card. It was a NERV ID card, issued to Nick, and still good for another year.  
"I was told to bring the second child as well." Asuka suddenly appeared, like an avenging valkyre.  
"Well well well... if it isn't Mr. Rivers..." She lashed out with a sudden shin kick, still furious about the picture. All she got for her efforts was a stubbed toe.  
  
"Are you sure his ID was real?" asked Asuka.  
"Yes. It was one of the new temporary IDs we give to some people," whispered Shinji. They were in an elevator, descending into the geofront. Nick stood apart from the two, watching the numbers on the display as they moved downward.  
"Um... why are you here, Mr. Rivers?" asked Shinji  
"There are no stupid questions, just stupid people," responded Nick, as the elevator came to rest. The door slid open, revealing Misato.  
"Commander Ikari is expecting you three." Misato said, looking directly at Nick. "Although I'm not sure why he wants to see YOU. We haven't had any problems with unit 02." Nick smiled, and walked past her.  
  
"Hello Nicholas." said Commander Ikari, "I believe you will be a great help to our cause."  
"We'll know soon enough. How's cage 7 holding up?" responded the American.  
"The restraints have been taken away, and the LCL has been drained."  
"More equipment should be here by the end of the week." Gendo nodded, then turned to his son and Asuka  
"You will follow Nick to cage 7. He will explain everything on the way."  
  
"Well?" Asuka said, impatiently.  
"Well what?" Nick was already halfway to the cage, and hadn't said anything the whole way there.  
"Ikari said you'd explain everything. Are you going to or not?"  
"Fine. I run a private mecha construction company. It's name is P.E.A.C.E.; (P)aradox (E)vangelion/anti-(A)ngel (C)ombat (E)ngeneers."  
"You're the ones who built my Eva!"  
"Yes. Anyway, while we were building the Evangelion, we got to wondering why you didn't include more internal weaponry, or at least a half- decent control system. I sat down with a few of my better designers -" Nick opened the door to the cage. "-And built this." In the cage was an Eva, yet it didn't look the least bit like the ones Shinji was used to piloting. It was ebony black, with neon blue details. It lacked the two vertical fins that were on the other Evas, and instead had two immense steel wings on it's back. The Eva had large boxes on several places of its body, and a strange symbol on its chest plate, a circle with a vertical bar through it. "It is Evangelion unit Theta, one designed for unsupported combat."  
"Unsupported?" Asked Shinji, confused.  
"No external power needed, for one thing. I don't know why you people used batteries, of all things, to power mecha. The current fusion reactors we use are safe enough to be used."  
"You said it had weaponry built into it. Is that true?"  
"Of course. We couldn't reverse engineer the AT field generator you folks at NERV sent us, so we fell back on a more... radical idea. It's an inertia-dampening field, and it works by repelling solid matter. I'm wearing a smaller version." Nick unbuttoned his UN over shirt, revealing what looked like a tank top woven from thick-gauged wire. The wire pulsed in a black light, like a dark mist. "In the way of offensive weaponry, Theta's got the usual load out; two auto cannons and a set of plasma claws."  
"That's the usual load out? It's far more than an Eva should carry!"  
"And what about the wings?" asked Asuka.  
"The wing binders - binders are extra limbs - allow Theta to jump. With the extra equipment, Theta's quite a bit heavier than your Evas. If I had been privy to the construction on some of the Eva's components, maybe I would have been able to make something a bit better. However, for now, it's good enough. See, Even the sensors can-" Nick started, when an alarm blared, cutting him off.  
"Warning, Angel approaching! Report to your battle stations!" came Misato's voice, over the loudspeaker. Shinji and Asuka ran out the door, while Nick just smiled and stood there.  
  
"Launch the Evas!" yelled Gendo, while watching the main screen. The Angel had come out of the water with no warning, as it had taken the shape of a giant amoeba, and was as transparent as glass. It was now entering Tokyo-Three, spearing buildings with semi-solid limbs as it came.  
  
The Eva wanted to slow the rapid ascent provided by the elevator. Shinji always ran into this problem, the Eva wanting to grab at the sides of the vertical shaft. He had always been able to control it, though, and today was no exception. Suddenly, what looked like drops of water started dripping into the shaft, splashing on and around the Eva. Something heavy hit the Eva on the head, sending a vibration through the entire mecha. Shinji looked up. It had been a red orb a few dozen feet in diameter, and the scale size of a basketball to the Eva. Then the third child had a breakthrough that made nearly as much sense as soup.  
"It's an Angel! And I'm trapped in a small tube with it... oh no." The last thing Shinji saw before his monitors dissolved into a rainbow blur of static was a wave of clear gel looming over him.  
  
"What's taking those two so long? Are Shinji and the Angel both trying to keep me from getting any glory?" asked Asuka, directing the question at the universe in general. Suddenly, the door to a vertical shaft opened up behind her. She turned, expecting to see Unit One rise up on its elevator platform. Instead, nothing came out of the shaft, and Asuka found herself staring into pitch-blackness. A small window opened up on her view screen, showing Nick sitting in an almost unidentifiably warped entry plug.  
"Asuka, I'll be up there in two minutes. The elevators aren't designed to handle the weight of unit Theta."  
"Then how do you think you're going to get here? Are you going to climb up?"  
"Nope. I'll take a minute and a half to release the wing binders' thrust limiter. The other thirty seconds are talking to you." Nick shut off the link. Asuka started to curse at him in German, but stopped when an Eva elevator rose into place from the empty shaft. She was ready to yell at Shinji for being so late, but stopped when she noticed the elevator was empty, with the locks still in place.  
"But... where's unit one?"  
  
Nick was busy ripping out the limiters when a heavy crash sounded from the shaft behind his Eva. Unit one was there, crouched and looking at him with glowing red eyes. He waved to the Eva, and then went back to his work. The Eva walked closer, and for the first time, Nick noticed the red orb buried in the Eva's chest plate. A half transparent limb shot from Unit one's back, sealing off the exit with a pile of smoking rubble.  
"Oh my. I'll just walk over here then..." Nick slowly stepped towards the open hatch in Theta's abdomen.  
  
"Asuka, the plan's changed!" Yelled Nick, over the comm. "The Angel has taken over Shinji's Eva, and I'm going to have to 'subdue' it. You stay up there in case it tries to get back through the shaft. Contact Gendo, tell him what's happening." In the corner of his comm screen, Asuka could just make out the purple and black Eva that was wreaking havoc.  
"Okay. But if you run into trouble, call R-"  
"Rei is already here. Stay there, I'll be okay." Asuka wasn't so sure. She had already fought her share of Angels, and they had all been much tougher than she had assumed.  
  
"Nicholas, you will allow me to defeat this Angel." Rei said, in her usual monotone.  
"In that thing? No way. Unit Zero may be powerful, but it is a prototype. Just fire on it from a distance with the positron rifle. I can take an Eva easily." As if to prove it, Nick activated the plasma claws on Theta, and three magnetic bottles formed around each hand, then rapidly filled with plasma. In less then a second, six curved swords made of plasma had been created. The Angel smashed a bank of equipment, and then threw a chunk of debris at Nick.  
"Nicholas, you will stop this at once!" yelled Gendo, angry with Nick for usurping his command and engaging the Angel in combat. Nick dodged the piece of metal and circuitry thrown by the possessed Eva, then fired a burst of auto cannon at it. The shells exploded on the Angel's AT field, and only managed to scorch the things armor.  
"Gendo, I have something more important to do than argue with someone that listens as much as a gnat. Just tell your pet Rei to stay out of my way, or something very bad could happen to her."  
"What are you going to do?"  
"Activate the Psychic Communicator."  
"No! You fool! It cou-" Nick shut off the line, then took a deep breath. He typed in the word PSYCOMMU, and the world collapsed into a bright blur.  
  
Shinji woke up in a now all too familiar place, a hospital bed. He sat up, and looked to his left to find Rei.  
"What happened?" he asked, weakly.  
"An angel took over Unit One." she responded.  
"Is it okay?" Shinji stood up, his hospital gown crinkling as he did.  
"No. Nicholas nearly destroyed it in the process of killing the Angel."  
"And you didn't try to stop him?"  
"I did. He blew off Unit Zero's head."  
  
"You were far out of line. I have taken custody of Unit Theta. You are officially ordered to leave Tokyo-Three." Gendo dropped the written order into Nicks lap. Nick laughed at Gendo, and then got up.  
"And what do you plan on doing with it?"  
"My son will pilot it until Unit One has been repaired." Gendo started to leave the room.  
"He won't be able to handle it. You already know that though, don't you?" Gendo glared at him and left.  
  
Shinji looked up nervously at Theta's bulk.  
"Do I have to pilot it?" He asked, somewhat scared of the Eva. Misato sighed. She had been over this a million times with Shinji already.  
"Unless you absolutely cannot pilot it. If your sinc rate is too low, then I guess Asuka will have to fight the angels alone until Units Zero and One are repaired..." Shinji looked worried for a moment, then nodded reluctantly. Misato signaled for the tests to begin.  
  
"80%...82%... It's even larger than the sinc rate he had with Unit one!" exclaimed Maya. Ritsuko looked worried.  
"94%...97%...98%... we're getting some weird effects..." Suddenly, the somewhat normal readings leaped off the scale, and Shinji's life signs vanished.  
"Shinji!" Asuka yelled, who had been watching the trials. The life signs came back as abruptly as they appeared, then started to oscillate between being there and not. Ritsuko slammed on the emergency shutdown button, and the room went dark as the power was cut to Theta.  
"Get Shinji out of that thing!"  
  
"So? He lived, didn't he?" stated Nick, still in the hospital. Asuka and Rei had gone to see him, and to yell at him about his Eva.  
"It doesn't matter! You should have warned someone!" Asuka screamed.  
"I did. Gendo didn't care as long as he could get another toy to play with." Rei slapped Nick, then left the room. Asuka shook her head.  
"You know, I'm starting to respect you a bit more. Anyone who can make wondergirl freak out like that is quite some guy." Asuka smiled and followed Rei out.  
  
TO BE CONTINUED 


	3. Nobody likes the new guy

The P.E.A.C.E. Project, part II  
  
Nick walked out of the hospital, where he had been for a week. Shinji was still in a coma, and two of Gendo's people had been 'escorting' Nick to the train station, where he would be forced onto a train and shipped back to the US. Of course, Nick had other plans.  
"Hey, I've gotta go to the bathroom." He complained, hoping to get away from witnesses.  
"There's a bathroom in that restaurant. Let's just get this over with." The two guards went in, one staying outside the bathroom; the other going in to make sure Nick didn't try anything. The American entered a stall, and took something out of his backpack; a suit that looked like it was made of loosely woven wire, very stiff. Nick struggled, and put the suit on.  
"Hey, what's taking so long?" The NERV Guard asked.  
"Nothing, just pulling my pants on." Nick twisted a dial on the wire suit, and the suit started glowing black, and tried to push away from his body. Nick unlocked the door, and the guard stepped back to let him out. It was the last mistake the guard made.  
Nick punched through the door, the wood shattering as the repelling field pushed into it. The guard crumpled to the ground, his neck snapped at an odd angle. Nick jumped out a window, his strength enhanced by the suit. Even before he hit the ground, the other guard was firing at him, the sharp sound of the handgun echoing through the streets. The bullets rebounded off the repulser suit bounced them away. Nick ducked into an alley.  
  
"I wonder what happened to that damn American..." Mused Asuka. She was bored, without even Shinji to bother. Suddenly there came a rapping, as of someone gently tapping, tapping on the apartment door. "Hey, maybe Shinji's back!" Asuka walked over to the door, but before she could open it, it was kicked open. Nick pushed her aside before she was hit by the three shots fired at his back by the guard. They went into the floor, deflected by the suit. Nick looked at her.  
"Asuka, give me a gun, NOW!" Nick jumped away from the doorway. Asuka just sat where Nick had thrown her.  
"What's going on?"  
"ASUKA, STOP BEING A DUMBASS AND GET ME A GUN!!!" Nick screamed. Asuka nodded and ran into Misato's room, grabbing the pistol Misato always left there. She ran back and handed it to Nick, who glanced at it worriedly.  
"What? It's a gun, isn't it?"  
"Got anything more powerful?"  
"What, you think I keep an assault rifle in my room?"  
"Doesn't everybody?" Nick said, as he took careful aim at the guard. With a quick shot, he killed the man. Nick sighed in relief, collapsing like a rag doll onto the floor. Asuka looked over him. His repeller suit was heavily damaged; wires bent and snapped, the black glow flickering. He deactivated it, and took off the heavy garment. Clutching his side, he walked outside and over to the guard. Asuka took one look at the fallen man and gasped.  
"That...That's a member of NERV..." She whispered.  
"He was." Nick agreed, picking up the body and throwing it over the balcony into a dumpster.  
"Why did you kill him?"  
"Because Gendo tried to have me killed." Nick looked around. People were coming out of their apartments and looking around to see what had happened. "Let's go inside."  
  
"They were hitmen?" Asuka asked, confused.  
"Of the highest quality. NERV Section 31. They remove anything that doesn't fit into NERV's plan." Nick replied, rubbing a rib that had broken when the suit failed for a moment.  
"Then what'll you do, you can't stay here!"  
"Right. I'm just going to walk into NERV Central and ask Gendo if he's having a nice day."  
"Doesn't seem like much of a plan..."  
"You know, you're right. It would sound better if I said Good Morning. Thanks for the idea, I'll be sleeping in Shinji's room." Nick walked away from Asuka before she exploded into one of her rants.  
  
Gendo almost smiled as he sat down in his command chair, thinking about what a great day he'd have, with Nick dead in a train accident, and PEACE off of his back. He heard someone clear his or her throat behind him, and spun around, his good mood fading instantly into a deep horror. Either Nick had come back from the dead to haunt him, or...  
"You survived..." Gendo whispered breathlessly.  
"Not having a good morning?" Asked Nick, smiling.  
"Why are you here?" snarled the Nerv commander.  
"Simple. I'm here to tell you that I'm returning to the states. And I'm taking Theta with me."  
"Theta is now NERV property. You will leave it here."  
"If it's NERV Property, why is it already gone?" Nick asked as he walked away.  
  
"So... Nick is gone?" Shinji asked, not quite yet getting the point.  
"Right! No more Americans to steal my glory!" Asuka responded, happier than usual.  
"It's going to take a while before either unit One or Zero will be able to fight again. We could have used his help."  
"No way! You saw what he and his Eva did!" Asuka yelled. Shinji just nodded, remembering the video he had seen. Nick's unit Theta had apparently gone insane, and had shattered both of Unit One's arms before ripping out the angel's core and crushing it in fiery claws. It kept attacking unit One, ripping glowing gashes in its purple and green armor, unit Rei tried to stop it. What happened next was the point of some debate among NERV personnel. Apparently, unit Zero's head just blew up, splattering across the walls of cage 7. No weapon had been fired, and the Eva wouldn't just self-destruct, so it remained a mystery.  
"Still, though, that Angel might have destroyed the geofront if he hadn't stopped it."  
"We don't know how he did it though! Theta has no AT field, Nick said so himself!"  
"Maybe he was lucky."  
"Shinji?"  
"What?"  
"You're a moron."  
"Sorry."  
  
Nick watched Japan recede into the distance from his seat on PEACE's Eva transport. The transport was a heavy, slow plane, but it would get you there.  
"You know, I was hoping that would go better." Nick said, speaking to the man sitting next to him.  
"I heard what happened. Wasn't your fault, Ikari always was a slow person." responded the tall, dark man.  
"Maybe, but I still feel sorry for leaving him with only one Eva."  
"If an Angel attacks there he'll stop it. He may be slow, but he's usually right. He has a real grip on tactics."  
"I just hope he can-" Abruptly, the plane angled down at a forty-five degree slope. A voice came over the loudspeaker:  
"An angel is coming right at us! We're moving to evade, but we need some help!" Nick stood up and ran to the cargo hold as the plane made a few more abrupt turns. Before getting into Theta, Nick nodded to the man and smiled.  
"Maybe we'll end up helping him after all."  
  
The Angel was the size of a 747, and looked like little more than a flying wing with two claws hanging on its underside. It's core was on it's top, and although it was but ugly, it was deadly. Nick fired a few rounds of auto cannon into the Angel, getting its attention. The Angel rose up, and swooped down towards Unit Theta, claws first. Nick didn't even flinch as the Angel slammed into Theta with enough force to knock it off of the transport plane. As Nick and the Angel fell towards the water, Nick activated Theta's Plasma claws and drove them into the Angel's wing. Then the two fell into the water hard enough that certain people took notice.  
  
"What was that?" Gendo demanded, the splash setting off alarms set to detect submerged angels.  
"One...no, two large objects just fell into the water just inside international waters!" yelled the ensign, panic rising all over NERV Central.  
"What are they? Get the camera drones online!" In a moment, a blurry picture appeared on the main screen. Unit Theta was there, standing on the sea bottom. Around it, just in range of the camera, swum the Angel.  
"Anyone want to place a bet?" Asked Misato, seeing the battle between the Angel and Theta as something Nick deserved.  
  
Nick smiled. The Angels weren't that hard to beat. He'd had to take a few on already, and none of them had had a chance. Suddenly, the Angel slammed into Theta. Or, at least, tried to slam into Theta. Theta's matter- repelling field was on at full strength, black light radiating all around it as Theta repelled even the water. The Angel grabbed around Theta's arm with its claws, unable to touch it, and pulled. The arm ripped away in a spray of sparks and white blood.  
  
Misato waited for Nick's scream, knowing Eva pilots felt the pain their mecha felt, but was sorely disappointed over the hacked comm system Nick made a rude comment about the angel in a way that would have sent a nun screaming into another room with hands clasped over her ears, but didn't even say 'ouch'. Gendo noticed the looks on everyone's face and shrugged.  
"His Eva is different from ours in many ways. It may be even closer to the Jet Alone internally." He said, reminding everyone that even he didn't know what was inside Theta.  
  
Nick and the angel dueled for several more hours, the Angel slowly pushing him closer and closer to land. Nick managed to land a few solid hits with his remaining auto cannon, but nothing seemed to slow the angel down. Nick then got an idea. He was in a large amount of salt water. While neither pure water nor pure salt are electrolytes, substances that conduct electricity, together they are extremely conductive. Therefore, some kind of electrical attack might be in order. Nick currently had no means to make an electrical strike against his enemy. However, he had some friends in high, and low, places. With a few calls, he could get that attack, and, possibly, a great deal more.  
  
"Hey! NERV orders are to disallow all use of this airfield!" The guard yelled. A plane was trying to take off, an unmarked black plane equipped with a large cargo bay and equipped for paradrop. A man in a black suit had stopped the security guard before he could get to the plane, and was now standing in front of him, arms crossed.  
"NERV does not have jurisdiction over my organization." The man said, light glinting off the dark glasses he wore even now, near twilight and with a storm approaching.  
"And what unit is that? Either show me some ID or I'll be forced to fire upon you."  
"This one." The man pulled out a badge that displayed only a few bits of information. A name, a country, and the name of the man's organization. It read: Mr. Lincoln; United States of America; Men in Black.  
  
Nick kept moving to the pickup spot now highlighted on Theta's main screen. The angel was getting bored now, and was lashing out impatiently, like a wounded animal. Nick stepped into the drop zone and watched as the counter on his screen dropped to zero, signaling the arrival of the plane. He wouldn't be able to see it, more for the thunderstorm now raging above the water than Theta's weak sensors. He made a mental note to improve the resolution when he repaired Theta. Suddenly there was a splash, and Nick slammed Theta's throttle to the limit, jumping up to catch what the plane had dropped.  
It was a weapon designed by a genius. Or a madman, depending on whom you ask. That man's name had been Nikola Tesla, who had designed the most dangerous and impressive electrical weapons ever created, and had helped, with his notes on advanced electromagnetism, to design Theta's repulsion fields. The weapon itself was an oddly shaped rifle, long with two circular parts connected by two tubes. It was a particle accelerator, designed as a weapon of war. Nick pulled the trigger once, starting the flow of electrons into the chambers of the weapon. He waited for the angel to attack again, and when it did, he pulled the trigger again, dumping the massive electric charge into a beam a centimeter thick and with a difference of over ten billion volts. The angel spasmed and convulsed as it's nervous system was disintegrated. Nick just smiled, the field around Theta blocking electrical charges of any strength from coming through. The angel stopped moving and floated to the surface, now dead.  
  
"Where the HELL did that gun come from ?!" Gendo demanded, his face red with rage.  
"A sensor shows a plane dropping it, sir."  
"GET ME THE AIRPORT ON MY COMM! NOW!!!" As the comm officer got to work, Gendo slumped into his chair, feeling truly defeated for perhaps the first time. Nick had seemed to know what he was going to do even before he did it, and in the game of minds, Gendo had come out a distant second. It was like the whole world was against him...  
"I have the man in charge sir!" Called the comm officer. Gendo nodded, a signal that meant he was ready to receive the call on his personal unit. The face of the security guard appeared on the screen, and he was as white as a sheet.  
"Sir, I didn't have a choice in letting that plane take off." The man started, and then trailed off, seemingly afraid to reveal his reasons.  
"That's right. You DIDN'T have a choice. You were to stop ALL traffic." Gendo snarled.  
"Sir, the man's authority was... above yours."  
"WHAT?!"  
"Sir, they were... they were..."  
"Who were they, dammit, out with it!"  
"T-they were the M-men in Black!" The guard managed to stammer. Gendo's jaw dropped, and he went slack. After a moment, the guard nodded, and Gendo terminated the transmission. Everything in NERV central was quiet; people all looking to him now. He blinked once, slowly, and sat up a bit.  
"The... Men in Black..." He whispered, the sound echoing hollowly in the spacious room. Ritsuko dropped the binder she had been holding, and didn't even look down to when it hit the ground with a loud crack. The Men in Black, the near-mythical United States version of the KGB, had seen fit to help Nicolas Rivers, the most hated man in Japan, defeat an angel with an Eva that shouldn't exist, using technology that couldn't have been real. Just who was the man who hid under the name of Nicolas Rivers?  
  
To be continued... 


	4. Special Olympics

The Peace Project, part III  
  
A month had passed since Nick Rivers had first entered Japan, and since then, more chaos had erupted that people were already calling the day he had arrived Second-and-a-Half impact, only half kidding. Nick seemed to be more trouble than could be believed, nearly destroying two Eva units, killing several NERV operatives, and getting into a fight with an Angel. Not to mention causing quite a stir when it was revealed that the Men in Black were helping him. With it now being commonly known, at least to those in the proper circles, that there were MIB agents in Japan, it seemed a war was going to start.  
  
"You put government agents onto our soil with unknown instructions! You Americans have no honor!" Yelled the Japanese ambassador to the USA, in a meeting of the UN.  
"We cannot confirm or deny having agents in Japan that your government was not informed about." Responded the American member, trying his best to avoid that subject. The Japanese Ambassador stood up, and was about to say something that would have had him fired, when the doors to the chamber opened, and a young man strode into the center of the semi-circular desks. He looked around, smiled, and gave a short bow to the assembled UN Members.  
"I wouldn't recommend starting a war just yet, at least, not over something as small as that." The young man said, looking directly at the Japanese ambassador. "If you'll remember, you seem to have lost a city or two during the last world war as a result of actions like that." The Japanese ambassador sat down, while the rest of the assembly looked at the young man. It was, of course, Nick Rivers. He flashed his shark's smile at the American Represenitive, and continued. "A war is the last thing any of us need. Instead, I'd like to propose a contest, like the Olympics. Only different in every way."  
The Swiss represenitive raised an eyebrow. He seemed to like the idea already.  
"What would this contest entail, Mr...?" He asked, not knowing Nick's name.  
"My name doesn't matter. However, the contest could. The Olympics are a world tradition, but they rely too much on luck. Finding the right people to enter, the right coaches, that sort of thing. What I propose is a contest where we will not pit people, those imperfect, chancy machines, against each other, but rather our greatest feats, our country's mecha."  
"What about those countries that possess no mecha?" Asked the Mexican Ambassador.  
"Well, they don't matter in the long run." With those parting words, Nick bowed again, and walked out, a chorus of applause following him out the doors.  
  
"A contest? Doesn't sound too hard." Asuka had been told about the contest, as had the two other Japanese Eva pilots none of them were impressed by it. They considered their Evas the greatest creation of man, and figured they could take out anything people could throw at them. Asuka didn't want to go, and Misato was trying to convince her now, after their dinner.  
"You know Nick's going to get involved, though." Misato responded.  
"So? That idiot will probably end up killing the spectators, blowing up the mecha, and turning the stadium into a radioactive crater."  
"A point, and somewhat likely. However, we have to be there to represent Japan."  
"We? Only Shinji, Rei, and I will be there."  
"Nope. You guys will need a support crew to refuel and repair the Evas. I'll be going along too."  
"I feel sorry for you. Now you'll have to watch as I get a gold medal in every event."  
"Only if second place has a gold medal too." Called a voice. Asuka whipped her head around, looking for the source of the voice in fear. She knew that voice, the voice of Nick Rivers. She calmed down a bit on finding the voice was only coming from the phone. However, nobody had picked up the phone, or even gone near the phone.  
"And unless I'm mistaken, Asuka, weapons aren't allowed in this event, so you won't have to worry about me planting a nuke on unit two."  
"Since when have the rules ever meant anything to you?" Asuka stood up, and walked over to the phone.  
"About when I decided to use them to further the cause of the forces of good."  
"...Killing people from NERV is somehow good now?"  
"No, just not evil. Killing Gendo, now... Oh well. See you at the gam- " Asuka ripped the phone off of the wall and threw it out a window.  
"Not if I see you first."  
  
Gendo sat and read the list of participants with some mild surprise. Among the powered armor and small mecha that were to be expected in an international event like this were a few names that stuck out. Jet Alone, Theta, units Zero, One, and Two. It seemed like they would be the main event, the only five large mecha there. After thinking for a moment about sabotaging the competition and allowing his three Evas to win, he decided that, for once, he didn't care.  
  
Shinji stared out the window of the Concorde high-speed jet, watching the ocean fly by under him. The games were to be held on Midway Island, as agreed by the governments involved. The Evas were already there, shipped a week before to save time. Suddenly, something jammed into Shinji's side, making him jump with fear.  
"Jeez, Shinji. One would think you were nervous about this little competition." Asuka said, one of her bags having accidentally fallen onto Shinji.  
"Well, people all around the world will be watching me, and the competition will be pretty tight." He responded.  
"Tight? We're going up against Jet Alone! That piece of crap couldn't, and can't do anything!"  
"I was there Asuka. It was stronger than the Eva, and its walking speed was almost the same as Eva's running speed! If Jet Alone had been working it could have beaten Eva into a pulp!"  
"Well... maybe it could have beaten YOUR Eva into a bloody pulp, but I would have been fine."  
"Sure." Shinji turned away from her, and waited for the plane to land.  
  
"Looks like public enemy number one didn't show up. There's no sign of Theta anywhere." Misato said happily. "Disaster must be at least a mile away from the brink today."  
"Disaster is always closer than you think," said Ritsuko, in a strained tone of voice. "And it's doubtful that Theta could have even been repaired by now. Our Evas can repair themselves to some extent, but Theta seemed to lack that ability."  
"Yet another way that Japan is better than America."  
"Oh, I wouldn't be too sure of that..."  
"What do you mean by that? Don't you have any national pride?"  
"I'm being realistic. While Theta was in the Geofront, we scanned it regularly. It was well shielded, and we couldn't get much resolution, but what we did find was disturbing."  
"Let me guess; you couldn't understand anything. There was too much equipment and it was so jumbled and complicated you never figured it out."  
"How did you know?"  
"Theta alone weighs more than our three Evas together. If you had even bothered to look at the pressure sensor you'd have been able to figure that out."  
"I see. Well, the games are due to start in an hour. We'd better check on the pilots and see how they're doing" With that, Ritsuko left Misato.  
  
Rei watched as Unit Zero was given a last-minute checkup before the opening event. It's new blue and white paintjob gleaming in the late morning sun. There were still a few unpainted welds around its neck, from what Theta had done to it. Rei had nearly died, a quick nerve disconnect the only thing that saved her life. She still remembered what had happened, the way Theta had gone mad and destroyed that angel with it's claws, ripping off Unit One's arms and legs in the process. The angel had been forced out, where Theta could kill it.  
And speaking of Theta... Rei looked around, the other mecha standing in the huge hangar, filled with a grid of scaffolding to allow easy access to the giant machines. The giant, black form of Theta was nowhere to be seen. For some odd reason, Rei was sorry Nick wasn't there. Or maybe relieved. She wasn't sure which.  
  
Asuka eased Unit Two out of the hangar and onto the huge arena. The Evas dwarfed most of the mecha there, the only thing close the new Jet Alone. Using a completely new design, the Jet Alone was almost beautiful now. Having realized that something computer controlled would tend to lack human ingenuity, the designers had completely redone Jet Alone, creating a new design that was designed to be fast and tough, at the expense of firepower. It was now painted a bright gold, and, although bulky as hell, had enough maneuvering jets and engineering tricks to make it even faster than the original.  
Jet Alone was already on the field, it's shiny surface gleaming in the sun. As Asuka watched, it gave her a nod of it's crested head, as if to say hi. A small screen appeared on her monitors, showing only a black box. A moment later, a blue face faded into existence on the screen, and smiled.  
"Asuka." it said, in a low voice.  
"Who are you?" she asked.  
"I am Cain. I was hoping you could explain where Nicholas is."  
"What do you mean? He never showed up."  
"I consider him a friend. Please provide his location." Suddenly, Asuka had a thought.  
"Why am I talking to a computer?" She turned off the screen and set the comm unit to ignore messages from the Jet Alone. For a moment she was almost sure that Cain had seemed alive. Almost. She reminded herself that Cain was only a computer, and then reminded herself that talking to yourself was a sign of insanity.  
  
Unit One was in the back row of the assembled mecha. Shinji waited, bored, for the opening speeches to end. When the speaker stopped talking, Shinji looked up, only to see everyone looking at something behind him, towards the open end of the arena that faced the ocean. Shinji spun around, hoping not to be caught flat-footed by whatever threat was there.  
He didn't see anything. Shinji sighed, thankful, until he saw it. Something was in the water, swimming below the surface towards them. It was too deep to make out any details, but he could see it was big. It shot towards him, and by the time his brain had registered the thought that he ought to get out of the way, it leapt out of the water in a tremendous splash. Shinji saw something land next to him, and he blindly punched it, almost snapping Unit One's hand off in the process. As the spray settled, a black shape resolved itself.  
Unit Theta had arrived.  
  
To be continued. 


	5. The second Battle of Midway

The PEACE project, part 4  
  
Water streamed down Theta's metal exoskeleton, forming a large puddle at its black feet. Shinji looked at Theta with some apprehension, for several reasons - not the least of which was the pilot. He felt Nicolas Rivers was the person least qualified to pilot an Eva unit, even one as strange and disturbing as Theta.  
  
Asuka, however, feared Theta for a different reason. It wasn't Nick that worried her, but the way her Eva reacted to him. Every time Unit Two saw him or Theta, it was filled with a nearly overwhelming desire to kill him. She didn't know where the feelings came from. That scared her almost as much as the feelings themselves. Her Eva's mind was quiet and out of the way, merely a feeling of being watched. Now, though, it was almost a tangible force. Hate and rage seethed in the LCL around her, the feelings seeming to radiate from every surface.  
  
The opening ceremonies carried on for quite a while. Too long for Nick's taste. They ended about an hour after the sun had set, climaxing with a fireworks display that lit up the sky with streamers of light in every color of the rainbow. The crowds dispersed, the mecha returned to the docking bay provided for them, and the pilots had a little get together. Nick was the life of the party, knowing nearly every pilot - most from having met with them in person before. Shinji, Asuka, and Rei lingered at the outermost edge of the crowd. They seemed to be trying to keep away from everyone else without seeming totally antisocial.  
"I can't believe they forced us to come to this stupid party." Asuka pouted. She didn't want to be anywhere near the gathering, but had been ordered to by Misato 'for Olympic spirit'.  
"Well, it gives us a chance to get to know the other pilots before we go up against them." Shinji replied.  
"Oh? Then why are you sitting here if you want to get to know people? Idiot." Shinji blushed, embarrassed, and looked down into his drink for a long moment. He saw only his own reflection in the liquid.  
"And what if an Angel attacks Tokyo-Three while we're here? We would never get back in time to do any good!" Asuka continued.  
"What do you mean?"  
"You know perfectly well they can't fight Angels without Evangelion units."  
"Well, they did manage to beat the first two somehow."  
  
"Maybe we'll be able to have more friendly political relations with other counties now." Misato commented. "Maybe we won't have so much to worry about."  
"That's wishful thinking." Ritsuko replied. "It's very doubtful. NERV isn't very good at making friends, only enemies."  
"I know. It's our greatest weakness."  
"No. Our greatest weakness is our leadership."  
"It's better than -" She stopped talking, scrambling for support as the entire island shook, as if it had been hit with a gigantic hammer. "What the hell was that?"  
"I'm not sure. Let's get to the command bunker." Ritsuko motioned to a set of stairs. "This way!"  
  
"Blood pattern blue. It's an angel, alright." Said a comm officer, an American. Most of the staff in the command bunker were American, only a few from other nations. Still, Misato outranked most, if not all, of them. As operations director for NERV, she had an authority few could match.  
"Get a visual on it! I want to know what we're shooting at." She snapped. Misato was in a bad mood, and it was getting worse. A flat-screen plasma screen took up a large part of the north wall. It was on this screen that the image of the angel appeared. A gigantic ball of water. It was hovering over the ocean by unknown means, flying towards the island at high speed.  
"The angel will arrive in two minutes." An ensign stated, calmly.  
"I advise we launch the Eva units." Ritsuko said, looking away from Misato and at the image of the Angel. Misato thought to herself for a moment. Why was the Angel attacking here? They had attacked Tokyo-Three almost exclusively. In fact the only times she could remember an Angel not doing so were when they had been transporting Unit Two on the ocean, and when one had attacked Theta on it's return to the US. And on the latter time, it had presumably been headed towards Tokyo-Three, but had been intercepted in midair by pure luck.  
"Order the pilots to launch!" Misato ordered. She could think about unimportant things later. Right now, it was more vital to act. Several officers scrambled to get the three mecha ready to launch. Before they were even out of the door, the island shook again.  
"It's using some kind of energy beam!" Reported a tactical officer. "But we can't seem to get a concrete reading on the energy type!"  
"Get all civilians to shelters, activate what defenses you have, and get those Evas out there!"  
  
Kevlar-layered ceramic armor plates sprang up along the island, each one as tall as an Eva and several hundred feet long. They were intended as a barricade, and to provide cover for defending units. The three Japanese Evangelion ran out of the docking bay and took up positions under the cover of the heavy plates near the beach facing the Angel's approach.  
Shinji glanced around the edge of a plate just in time to see the Angel fire at him. Shinji was stunned just for a moment, before the pain hit. The right side of his face felt like it had been dipped in Hydrochloric acid. Shinji screamed and threw himself back behind the armor plate. Although he couldn't see it, and probably wouldn't want to, the angel's beam was eating through the plate he was hiding behind. The tough metal-free ceramics seemed to be slowing down its effects. Regardless, the plate was being destroyed. It almost seemed like it was eroding away into a cloud of mono-atomic particles.  
  
Even before Shinji screamed, Ritsuko was moving to cut the nerve impulses before the beam weapon killed him. As she did, she saw a meter jump and the right side of Unit One's face erupt in a dust storm.  
"That's no particle beam!" Ritsuko exclaimed.  
"What is it then?" Misato demanded.  
"That beam is suppressing the negative charge on the electrons of atoms! The positive charge on the nucleus is unaffected, but positive repels positive so the matter..."  
"...Tears itself apart." Misato finished. "A disintegration ray."  
  
Asuka glanced towards Unit One. The side of its face looked like it had been sandblasted away, leaving a lump of tortured flesh and steel. The armor plate he was cowering behind started to buckle under the force of the Angel's beam. Asuka began yelling a warning when she saw a blue and gray blur from the corner of her eye. Rei. She scooped up Unit One and managed to get both of them out of the way before the ceramic plate broke under the strain of the attack.  
"Damn! How are we supposed to fight against that thing?" Asuka said.  
"What weapons do you have?" Asked a familiar voice - Nick. "I'm powering up Theta. We should be out there in just a few seconds. Jet Alone is coming as well."  
"All I have is my progressive knife." Asuka replied, trying to sound cross. She was thankful that more help was arriving, but her personal sense of pride wouldn't allow her to say so.  
"It may just be better than nothing." Theta emerged from the docking bay, moving more slowly than the Japanese Evangelion units. It's heavy armor caused it to nearly sink into the sand, but Nick kept it moving at what must have been a torturous pace for the mecha. "I and Jet Alone will distract the Angel while you go around and flank it."  
Asuka fought down her Eva's homicidal urge towards Nick and answered.  
"Fine. Whatever. Rei, you circle around the other side."  
"I cannot. Unit One is unable to fight and I have been given orders to protect it. I must stay and defend it."  
"What?! Fine. I'll take care of it myself. I am, after all, the one best qualified for the job."  
  
Jet Alone, in its shining golden armor, was easy to spot. Even in the darkness of the night, what lights there were shone from its mirror-like surfaces. It stormed over the island's beach, doing it's best to avoid the Angel's disintegration ray. As it dodged through monolithic alloy plates, a memory file opened without prompt. Last year, Cain had been 'born'. It had been programmed as an AI, and abandoned as a failure. Nick had bought the project and continued work on it. He had given Cain the freedom to reprogram itself, to grow and change. It's first actions, though still below a true level of sentience, had been to make itself faster and smarter. It had basically programmed itself. Cain had been given to the Jet Alone project after their first failure, and was now considered a great success the world over. All because Nick had seen some potential in the research.  
Cain put the file away. There were far more important things to worry about. Like not dying.  
  
Nick ran directly towards the Angel, hoping his matter-repelling field would offer some protection from the target's matter-annialation beam. He jumped, waved his arms around, and generally did what he could to gain the Angel's fire. Unfortunately for Nick, it worked.  
The Angel's beam lashed out. Theta's Iron Curtain could do nothing to stop it. The first thing to go was vision, Theta's eyes destroyed in an instant. Nick was unable to even react as the angel's beam played over Theta, the Iron Curtain serving only to keep the vaporized material, flesh and metal alike, from escaping. Seconds after the attack, Theta was obscured by a mist made of it's own blood. Nick forced Theta into a turn, putting its heavy wings between it and the Angel. The main body was safe for a few seconds while the beam ate through Theta's wings. Nick used the time he had bought with the sacrifice of his wings to throw himself away from the beam, getting behind an armor plate before the Angel killed him. A huge pool of blood formed around Theta, while it lay unmoving.  
  
The ceramic plates frustrated the Angel. They weren't able to hold an electrical charge, and greatly impeded the use of its beam. It was fairly sure there wasn't much of a threat left, though. None of its enemies had yet demonstrated a method of attack that was effective on it. It thought it was safe. It was wrong.  
With a jump and a splash, Unit Two entered the Angel's watery body and pierced its blood-red core with her progressive knife, killing the angel. It hovered for a few seconds, as if it couldn't believe it had been killed. The Angel dropped into the ocean, with Unit Two inside.  
  
Dawn rose on Midway Island before the recovery teams could raise Unit Two from the depths. The giant mecha seeming to come out of the water like some sort of mythical sea god. Asuka switched her Eva from life support mode into minimal running mode, giving her just over a minute with what was left in the internal batteries. She hustled to a power station and hooked its line into her Eva's power socket. After checking the connection to the external power source, she moved over to where Nick's Eva was collapsed.  
Theta was little more than bones. The Angel's beam had a devastating effect on Theta. It had stripped armor from flesh, then flesh from bone. Asuka knew well how an Eva's injuries were reflected on the pilot, causing great pain. She didn't see how he could have survived. If the Eva suffered a wound that would be fatal, like having it's head cut off, than the pilot would die as if he or she had suffered that same injury. As she turned away, Asuka caught a glimpse of movement. Theta's right arm weakly raised, tried to get her attention. Nick's face appeared on her screen.  
"I don't think Theta can walk right now. Mind dragging me back to the docking bay?"  
  
Several cranes supported the tattered bulk of Theta, suspending in inside a service gantry. Nick was looking at the damage, estimating how long it would take to repair. Aside from the machinery buried deeply inside its body, nearly ninety percent of Theta's operating systems were off-line.  
  
"Hey, Nick!" Someone yelled. From the condescending tone, German accent, and female source of the voice, it could only be the third most annoying thing in the universe. The second was the sound of fingernails scraping on a chalkboard, and the first has been erased from all time and space. "Did you see how MY Eva defeated that angel? I told you I didn't need the hero and wondergirl to beat it!" Asuka continued for some time about her own personal greatness. Nick considered the virtues of slamming his face into the nearest bulkhead for a while, at least until unconsciousness set in, then thought about slamming Asuka's face into a bulkhead to shut her up, then decided to ignore her.  
At some point, hours later, Asuka had finally finished with her speech on her awesomeness and powerfulness. Nick was still there, almost ready to write a report on Theta's damages. All he had left to do was to check how long it would take to regenerate the biological components.  
  
Asuka watched Nick suddenly stop moving.  
"Did you fall asleep or something, Idiot?" She walked over to him and saw he was reading something from a screen. Asuka read over his shoulder.  
[Regeneration Time: ERROR]  
[ERROR 491: Biological systems inactive]  
Nick looked up at her.  
"It's... dead."  
  
"The games have been called off, obviously." Misato said, looking at each of the two Eva pilots in the small cafeteria to gauge their reactions. The small eatery was just off to the side of the mecha bay. Rei and Shinji didn't look sad, or really anything. Just tired of fighting. Quite tired, indeed. Misato had been hoping the games would be a nice break for them, but it turned out otherwise. "We will return to Japan tomorrow morning. Get some sleep."  
  
"Dead?" Asuka asked, not quite understanding.  
"Biologically, anyway. Mechanically, it's as good as can be expected for something that just got the crap beaten out of it." Nick replied. "I think I can get it running after a bit, though."  
"How long is a bit?"  
"Call it a few weeks."  
"That's pretty quick."  
"Well, there are a number of benefits to being in charge." Nick smiled, and Asuka could tell that he wasn't going to be getting into any more detail than that. "I'll be returning to the American branch of PEACE to oversee the completion of Evangelion Units Three and Four. I just know they'd screw something up without me to keep them in line."  
"Another two Eva units? Where will they be deployed?"  
"Unit Three will be transferred to your branch of NERV. Unit Four is just a prototype for a new type of power source. It'll just be a test bed for it's entire operating life."  
"And the pilots?"  
"I'm not in charge of that. If you see him, ask Kaji. I think he'd be quite surprised you know any of this."  
  
To be continued. 


	6. PEACE and quiet

The PEACE project, part 5  
  
"DAMMIT!" A loud clang, followed by a small explosion, which, in turn, was followed by a spray of blood, sounded out in the large working area of PEACE HQ. Nicholas Rivers was perched on Unit Theta, trying to get the biological components to work together. Unfortunately, they were no longer binding together on their own. The now-dead flesh was stubborn. Thankfully, the unique protein structure held rigormortis at bay. Otherwise the job of repairing Theta would be unimaginable.  
A muscle in the chest had torn loose from its tentative bindings. Nick coughed in disgust as he wiped stinging, lukewarm blood from his eyes. He looked down at his gore-soaked clothing and cursed a few more times, using words that could burn down a house. Finally fed up, he took an oversized nail gun and muscled the flesh into position. He deftly, but messily, secured the rebellious tissue with impaling spikes driven down into steel-hard bones. Nick stood. He looked around him at the ruined bulk of Theta's corpse. Mold dotted a few patches of bare flesh with a green- white mottling. Bandages and wrappings covered nearly the entirety of the mecha. Only a few armor plates had survived undamaged, but even they were now covered in splatters of gore from the messy reconstruction and reanimation of Theta. If there had been a larger government grant, Theta would be back up and running already.  
As it was, Theta was behind schedule. Far behind it, in fact. Maybe it could be thrown into combat, maybe not. It could function without living organics, but not well. Systems would be prone to sudden and probably spectacular failure. Fixing Theta was proving to be a lengthy undertaking. Still, it was easier than building an entirely new Evangelion unit. Maybe.  
While Nick was lost in thought, a technician yelled to him, trying to get his attention.  
"What is it now?" Asked the irritated Eva pilot. Blood was dripping from him like a light rain. Crimson splatters decorated everything around him. Somehow, it seemed appropriate.  
"We finished installing the S^2 engine in Unit Four. Thought you might want to watch us bring it online."  
"Nah. Seen one Eva, seen 'em all."  
  
Deep inside PEACE, a white giant stood impassively. A red core, like an Angel's, pulsed in its chest. Unknown to most, however, a man was busy throwing a monkey wrench into the works.  
  
Technicians and workers alike crowded around Unit Four. Their faces were bright with excitement, excited to see their work finally showing some progress. With a flourish, an engineer flipped a switch, powering up the S^2 organ. The core on Unit Four's chest shone with a bright red light for just an instant.  
Then, the entire area erupted in flames and shrapnel.  
  
Alarms blared the moment automatic safety systems detected the explosion. Nick looked up from the complicated tangle of impulse relays he was working on to see what was going on. Several other mechanics stood up as well, each working on a different part of Theta. Nick motioned for them to get back to work.  
"This is just not going to be a good day." He said, as he leapt from the Eva, running towards the trouble. The blood on his clothing had dried into a stiff, annoying layer, but he took no notice as he rushed blindly into danger.  
  
It took only minutes for the built-in fire suppression systems to put out the flames. Great blasts of foam smothered the entire shielded bay like two meters of snow. Damage to the building itself was minimal. The shielded walls of the special bay had contained the blast. Unit Four wasn't even singed. Its armor had been built to stand up to forces no mere explosion could duplicate. It's white armor was unblemished and still brightly polished.  
"Seems like someone doesn't like Unit Four." Nick commented. He was amazed the S^2 organ hadn't ruptured. If that had happened, they would only be a hole in the ground. The armor plating he had built into the mecha, against NERV's original plans, had paid off.  
"Several men were killed in the blast." Reported an engineer.  
"I know. Damn it all. I can't believe NERV would stoop to such petty sabotage."  
"You think NERV did this?"  
"Who else would? We're incredibly lucky."  
"If the inertial dampeners had been off-line, we would all be dead now."  
"Let's find the one who did this." Nick said, starting off towards the armory.  
  
"Yes, the security shutters went down right after the fire, sir." The security guard reported.  
"So whoever did this is still inside."  
"Most likely. From where the bomb was placed, it had to have been set within a few minutes of the explosion. No person left the building within a large margin of the required time."  
"Good. I bet he was scared when that bomb went off."  
"I suggest we evacuate everyone inside, check them as the leave."  
"He could slip past us. Lock down every room and we'll clear them one at a time."  
  
It actually didn't take long to find the saboteur. All PEACE personnel were given stations in case of lockdown. As the only one without a station, he was easy to find. He was also the only one hiding in a storage closet, so he stood out fairly broadly. The man was found within minutes of the beginning of the clearing. It took several strong men to restrain him.  
As it turned out, the saboteur was a Japanese man Nick had never met, but had heard quite a bit about. Mostly from Asuka.  
"Well, Kaji. Looks like you aren't half the spy you thought you were." Nick said, taking an opportunity to speak to Kaji after the would-be saboteur had been bound and locked in a small, windowless room.  
Kaji said nothing, not even looking at Nick.  
"I want you to tell me everything you know."  
"...I hear an 'or else' attached to that." Kaji said, finally looking at Nick. For the first time, the spy seemed to realize just how serious the impossibly young head of PEACE was.  
"That's quite correct. I don't like Ikari's little spies meddling in my business."  
"Like I'd ever work for him." Kaji said under his breath. He thought Nick wouldn't hear it, but was wrong once again.  
"Oh? Then whom do you work for?"  
"If I told you they would kill me."  
"I'm going to need an address, at least. I have to send them an apology."  
"What do you have to apologize for?" Kaji said. He had a sinking feeling he already knew the answer.  
"Killing one of their agents." Nick drew his sidearm, a police-issue semiauto. Kaji stared down the barrel of the gun into Nick's face. He saw no mercy there.  
  
A moment later, a shot rang out. Only a minute later, Nick left the room. He shut the door harshly, almost slamming it. Standing outside were three people. Two of them wore the uniform of PEACE's security force. They carried light machine guns. The third man was a medic. He looked at Nick with a questioning gaze.  
"You killed him?" The medic asked, disbelief in his tone.  
"No. I only shot his knee out. He didn't think I was serious." Nick replied.  
"Fine. Get the information you wanted?"  
"Unfortunately, he was too well trained to tell me anything. Say, can you get some sodium pentathol?"  
"Truth serum? A bit. I'm going to have to patch up his leg first."  
"Oh?"  
"Bleeding to death aside, the truth drug is going to mess him up badly enough that we won't want him injured." Nick thought it over. It was sound advice. He stepped aside and nodded for the medic to get to work.  
  
Nick sat in an office. His office. He was contemplating what he was going to do. On one hand, there was the option of simply killing Kaji. On the other hand, whatever organization he was working for would, more likely than not, retaliate. Although he was the CEO of the largest mecha assembly and design company on the face of the Earth, Nick still had to worry about security issues. If one man could sneak in a bomb, then someone could sneak in a suitcase nuke just as easily. He sighed loudly. Nick decided a walk might just clear his head and help him find another option.  
As he left his office, he found himself looking across the nearly empty hallway and wondering where his guards were. Ever since he had been shot at in Japan by NERV personnel, he had been given two bodyguards. All he could see near him now was a potted plant and a water cooler. Neither were much of a deterrent to an assassin.  
Where were they? Nick found himself almost worried. He resolved to go check in the mess hall. Before he could even take a step, he felt something cold and metal pressed into the back of his neck.  
"Looks like the tables have turned." Kaji said. Nick couldn't see his face, but he could hear Kaji's broad smile clearly enough.  
"Oh? Why do you think that?" Nick replied. He slowly moved his hand to the butt of his own gun.  
"Put your hands behind your head and turn around." Nick sighed, abandoning the thought of drawing his gun, and complied.  
"You really think you can get away with whatever you're planning, don't you?"  
"You bet."  
"Is it not now the time for you, the evil mastermind, to tell little old me your brilliant and deviously evil plan, likely involving stolen nuclear warheads and holding the world hostage?"  
"This isn't James Bond, you little annoying brat. And you are most certainly not the hero. The things you've done..." Nick could almost hear Kaji thinking. For a moment, he saw Asuka's mother, as she had been so long ago. Before the Evangelion.  
"Really? Even though you're overly confident and absolutely sure that you'd kill me?"  
"Really. But I'm going to have to get rid of you. For once, it manages to both be my job and something I don't mind doing." With a loud click, Kaji chambered a round in the gun. Nick smiled and drew something from behind his neck, a long knife with its sheath hidden between his shoulders. He threw the knife at a startled Kaji and ducked to the side. Not very good with a knife, Nick's throw was poorly executed and he hit Kaji with the hilt, not the blade. Kaji fired at Nick, but his aim was thrown by the unexpected attack. The potted plant exploded into shards. Kaji took aim again, but Nick was already through a door, and into a more open, and populated, area. Kaji cursed. With his leg blown out, he didn't have much of a chance of getting the man, no matter how much Nick deserved it. Kaji decided to get out instead, and on the fastest plane he could get back to Japan.  
  
"He's gone now, sir." Said a man in uniform. On a screen, steaming video showed Kaji leaving the PEACE facility, uncontested.  
"Good. I hope Mr. Rivers does not take this too badly. I doubt the committee would tolerate us if we killed their little spy." Said a man in a black suit.  
"But sir, he doesn't work for... that particular organization."  
"That's right. He works for the Japanese government, reporting on NERV's and other organization's activities and operations truthfully and without bias."  
"... I see what you're saying, sir."  
  
Meanwhile, in a facility on the Nevada desert near the PEACE facility, a group of scientists stumbled onto something very old, sleepy, and angry.  
"How's that drill?" One of the scientists, the lead member of the group, asked.  
"Only one meter from the projected depth of the cavern, sir." One of the technicians reported.  
"Good. Finding a new oil field here would give us a stronger economic lever in the energy market. Not to mention allowing us to shore up some of the national debt."  
"Sir, how can we be sure its oil?" Asked one of the newest personnel.  
  
"The very rocks we're drilling through tell us. They're found almost exclusively around oil fields."  
"Sir, we're penetrating the cavern now." A third said. As he finished, the ground shook twice, and then subsided.  
"What was that?" The lead scientist asked, surprised.  
"Maybe... a small underground rock slide caused by released gas?"  
"I'm not sure. Check the lines, make sure we've still got our drill shaft." He stood up and went to the window, making sure the rig was still standing. It looked fine, but he could see three workers double-checking the structural integrity.  
"Sir, there's pressure in the pipe! I think we've struck oil!" Reported the technician, almost yelling in his excitement as he read the readouts. Only seconds later, dark liquid shot from the drill rig. A gusher! The lead scientist smiled. He thought he saw a strange red tinge to the oil, but passed it off as a trick of the light. The men outside were running around, jumping up in the air. They must have been jumping for joy, decided the scientist. One ran towards the command center. The scientist was about to go open the door and congratulate the man on a job well done when he saw something odd. He couldn't see what it was until the man got a little closer. When the man did, the scientist almost fainted.  
The man's skin was melting from his bones. His eyes were gone. He stumbled blindly into the sand and dust, then got up again, leaving a puddle of blood and disintegrating tissue. He managed one more step before his gut fell apart. His intestines dropped to the ground like a pile of slimy, bloody rope. The man followed, dead.  
Two things dawned on the scientist. First, that the other men were dying as well, what looked like jumping for joy at a distance actually death spasms. Secondly, that whatever was coming out of that damnnable hole in the ground, it wasn't oil. A few droplets sprayed the window in front of him, looking like dark rubies. As he watched, they trickled down the window, etching the glass like hydrochloric acid. He turned and faced the others in the small, suddenly silent room. Horror showed on his face.  
"Don't worry, people. Gushers don't last forever. We can wait it out here, then leave and report this."  
"Sir, something's moving in the cavern!" Reported the sonar technician, his voice almost cracking in fear.  
"What?"  
"It's coming towards the surface!" The technician said. The scientist fell to his knees as another quake rocked the area.  
"It's impossible! It must be... another rockslide of something!" Suddenly, the geyser of ichor stopped, like someone had shut off a faucet. The ground around the drill started swelling, like water when a whale is rising to the surface. The earth split, a long fissure swallowing the drilling rig whole. A rock the size of a car flew from the crevasse, smashing into some distant part of the facility.  
The last thing they ever saw, before they died horrible deaths, was a huge claw ripping from the sandy soil, and a pair of glowing red eyes that seemed to burn with the fires of hell.  
  
To be continued... 


End file.
